Finn's trip to the coast was largely uneventful. It would have been nice if the note had included clearance to use the magic circles in the Mage's Tower to teleport Finn closer to where she needed to go, but she supposed this particular uprising was not especially concerning. Even if teleportation might have been convenient, making the trip from the court to the coast wasn’t so bad. It was only a few days trip, and all of it was through the relative safety of a lush forest. Before the third day was out, Finn had walked within sight of where the kobold rebellion had camped out at the end of a small peninsula jutting out into the ocean.

Hiding on a rocky outcrop high above the beach, Finn used a small telescope to look over their camp. To some degree, it was smart to camp on the peninsula. It meant that they only had to guard one side of their camp, the other three being protected by water. Great protection against an oncoming army, but not foolproof against singular agents. Finn could swim, after all. She suspected that on nights when the moon was dark, it would be nearly impossible to see someone approaching from the water until they were almost on the beach. The question was, did they have people guarding the beaches, or were they only watching the land side of their camp.

After watching for a while, Finn believed there might be fifty or so kobolds in the camp. Finn had never seen kobolds before, but they were easy to recognize.

They were small, brown skinned humanoids with thick curly hair, a mouth full of pointed teeth and little pointed ears. She had heard that some kobolds had excellent night vision, since their natural habitats were caves. But, in those days, they were minor fae that managed to survive by co-existing with humans. Kobolds would take up residence in mines, barns and sometimes human houses and complete the work of the humans they lived beside at night after the humans went to sleep in return for a home and an occasional offering.

They had set up small leather tents interspersed around campfires and wooden racks of spears and bows. None of the tents looked special or more central than any other, so she wasn’t sure which was the chief’s tent. She suspected she would have to watch for a while before she found him.

Putting aside the relative weakness of kobolds themselves, Finn decided that it would be against her best interest if she went charging in with no plan. She doubted that anyone would care if she just ran in and killed all of them just so she could get to the chief, but Finn had never relished battle or bloodshed. If possible, she wanted to complete this mission as cleanly as possible and with as little death as possible. To achieve that she figured it would be better if she hunkered down and watched the camp for a few days until she understood their movements and could figure out a way to sneak directly to the chief, preferably under cover of night, so she could take him out and then sneak away without anyone noticing. She couldn't see how anyone could find fault with that plan.

A small voice reminded her that her father would probably notice that she had been gone too long and want to know why she didn't just storm in and kill them all, but she squashed that voice. The order had been to kill the chief, and that was all that she was going to do. It wasn’t like she would get a reward for going above and beyond. If anything, her father would take credit for anything impressive she did and blame her for anything less than perfect.

Finn spent the rest of the day setting up her own small camp in the cluster of trees on top of the rocky bluff. She couldn’t start a fire without drawing attention to herself, but she could lay out her bedroll and set up a small tarp to keep the rain and wind off her while she slept.

Watching the rebel kobolds was dull, but it was relaxing compared to life at court. She watched them wake up and make breakfast, she watched small groups travel into the woods to hunt or walk down along the beaches to scavenge for shellfish. They would be out most of the day, while the remaining kobolds piddled around in the camp cleaning, talking, moving between tents and cold fire pits in deep discussion. Before the sun went down, the scavenging parties would return, and they would work together to make dinner.

Finn chewed on a corner of beef jerky while she watched the kobolds laugh and talk over bubbling pots of seafood or small forest game. They seemed happy and, much to her chagrin, it lit a small fire of jealousy in her heart. Finn wasn’t sure if she could remember a time when she wasn’t worried about her father’s next dangerous test, or competing with her brother, or keeping up appearances with the other guards. Maybe when she was young, when she was still clinging to the old grandmothers around the court, things were easier. But, she had been so young when she left her mother’s side to go live with her father that she barely remembered her or their time together. She was a knight working directly under the Seelie Queen, the daughter of the most influential general in the Seelie army, but she knew after only watching the kobolds for a day that any one of them were happier than she was. And wasn’t that a kick to the nuts?

After three days, Finn had identified the chief. There was one kobold, short but with broad shoulders, a perpetual scowl on his face, and deep scars layered on his cheeks and shoulders. There were two younger kobolds who always hovered close to him and who looked similar enough that they were probably related. He didn’t leave the camp and never seemed to wander close to the edges. Finn took notice that, though he did occasionally walk around the camp during the day, he spent most of his time at one of the most central campfires, and he was the only kobold that all the other kobolds seemed to report to.

Once Finn admitted to herself that he had to be the chief, a rock settled in her stomach. This was the man she had been sent to kill. Her mind skittered away from the thought. She decided that she would keep watching a little longer, just to be sure. It was bad enough what she was going to do. She wasn’t sure if she could live with herself if she killed the wrong man. Even more importantly, she wasn’t sure she would still be alive if she returned to court after having killed the wrong man, anyway. Her father would sooner kill her in front of the entire royal guard than see her fail her first mission as a knight. Yes, she would stay a few more days and keep watching to be sure she had the right man.

By the time the moon rose high in the sky, most of the kobolds had retired to their bedrolls, so Finn didn’t bother to stay up late either. She already had their night patrols memorized. When the scarred and scowling man retired to a small leather tent, Finn retired to her bedroll as well. Above her, the sky was splashed with sparkling pinpricks of light, and the gentle rush of waves against the nearby beach sang her to sleep. She could stop thinking of the chief for the moment. She had a few more days yet to observe. Finn could sleep easily for a little while.